Spring hinge for doors



F b. 26, 1946. A. 5. BUNKER I SPRING HINGE FOR DOORS Filed Oct. 22, 1943 HM llllullllllw INVENTOR 19/7711 1 C. Bun/(er AT. RNEY Patented Feb. 26, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE! SPRING HINGE non DOORS Arthur C. Bunker, Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to American Locomotive Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Application ()ctobcr 22, 1943, Serial No..5l)7,233

1 Claim. (Cl. 16-184).

This invention relates to spring hinges for doors and the like, and more particularly to a hinge including a torsion spring.

An object of" the present invention is to provide a spring hingewherein the spring is concealed by the hinge pintle, thereby simplifying the construction and eiiecting a saving in the space the hinge occupies.

Other and further objects of this invention will appear from the following description, the accompanying drawingand the appended claim,

The foregoing mentioned hinge has the capacity of'urging the door, hatch or other closure inward oroutward (openedor closed) depending upon the direction of twist in the spring. In the following description and appended claim, the term door, where employed, will be understood to be used in its broad sense toinclude batches and other types of' closures. The hinge, while capable of more or less general use, is well adapt ed for use in certain types of doors where the spring is employed more for the purpose of acting as acounterbalance than as serving, as in the ordinary case, for automatically closing the door,

Incases where the spring is employed as a counterbalance for the door, such doors: swing upwardly and downwardly about. a horizontal hinge and the spring counterbalances the. Weight of the door when it is being raised and likewise when it is being lowered, depending in degree of course upon the relative weight of the door and the tersional strength of the spring. An illustration of such a door is a hatch employed in vessels and vehicles, as for example the drivers hatch of an armored tank for warfare. Such a hatch is shown in the drawing forming a part of this application for illustrative purposes, and the following description will be related thereto.

It is well known to counterbalance doors or the like to enable a man to open or close them. For example, in the aforesaid tank, the men in the tank must leave the tank through a horizontal drivers hatch in the upper horizontal wall. Due to the limited space in the tank, this hatch must open outward (upward). As the hatch is heayy, means must be provided to enable the man in the tank to push it upward. It is well known to employ a coil spring, acting in the manner of a counterbalancegto exert a force pushing the hatch upward. However, it has been found in recent designs of tanks, that there is not sufiicient room for the ordinary coil type counterbalance spring. 'Accordingly, the present invention is directed toward providing a counterbalance spring located so that it does not occupy an of the interior space of the tank. v

Referring to the drawing forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a plan view of a closure. device illustrating the present invention, and a; plate having an opening closedby the. closure; Fig. 2. is a view taken from the right of Fig. 1,, parts being shown in section; Fig. 3 is a viewtaken from the side of Fig. 1, arts beingshown. in section; Fig. 4-. is an enlarged section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1, parts being shown in. full; Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view of the closure hinge and associated parts, parts being showrriu section; and F-ig. 6 is a section on the line VI.VI

Of Fig. 4. v

The closure device is indicated generally in the,

drawing by the reference numeral 1 It closes an. The plate 3 may be a. horizontal wall of a structure or vehicle. In the opening 2 in a plate 3.

present instance, by way of example. as afore'-' said, it is assumed to be the horizontal top wall,

of an armored tank for Warfare, and, the following description will be of the closure.device.when

used with such a vehicle. However, itwillbe understood that the closure device is adapted; for. general employment for closing an opening ina wall;

The closure. device includes a frame or ring 4,

which isidisposed beneath and is welded to the. plate 3. Rings has an opening-5 and two spaced 1 rigid orificed mountings or lugs l5 and 1 extends ing upwardly through opening 2, as is clearly shown in Fig. 4. Lug 6 is disposed close to the adjacent side of the ring 4 whereas lug 1 is disposed at a greater distance from its adjacent side of the ring 4. Lug 7 has plain vertical faces, but lug S has four threaded orifices 8 in its outer vertical face, see Fig. 5. V

A closure such as a door or hatch 9 closes opening 5. It is disposed within opening 2, seating on the inner margin of ring 4, and has two spaced rigid vertical upstanding orificed mountings or lugs ill and H, lug I0 having plain vertical faces and being disposed inwardly of and adjacent lug 6, whereas lug I! is disposed outwardly of and adjacent lug 7 and has four threaded orifices 8 in its outer vertical face, see Fig. 6. Thus lugs 6 and l are disposed on corresponding sides of lugs l0 and I l. The inner face of lug I0 is opposed to an abutting portion l2 of ring 4 preventing movement of lug it away from lug 6, and consequently preventing movement of door 9 axially of the orificed lugs.

A hollow pintle l3, formed of a section of hollow tube, extends through the orifices of lugs t 1, l0

and H, hinging the door to the ring or frame. Bearings M are disposed between pintle l3 and lugs l and H, see Fig. 4, the orifice of lugs I0 and II having retaining flanges l5 for the bearings. Door 9 is movable relative to pintle l3. Pintle I3 extends from the outer face of lug 6 almost to the oute face of lug H and has a horizontal slot 16 in its end adjacent lug 6.

A retainer I1 is secured to the outer face of lug 6 by tap screws l8 threaded into the adjacent orifices 8. It has a horizontal tongue I9 disposed in slots l 6 and in a horizontal slot 20 in the outer face of lug 6, keying retainer 11, pintle l3 and lug 6' together, thereby preventing rotation of pintle [3 with door 9. Retainer I! also has a horizontal slot 2| in lin with the hollow interior of pintle I3. A cover 22, welded to the outer face of retainer l1, covers slot 2|.

A retainer 23, similar to retainer H, is secured to the outer face of lug II by other tap screws l8 threaded into the adjacent orifices 8. It has a tongue 24 disposed in a slot 25 in the outer face of lug H, keying retainer 23 and lug ll together.

Retainer 23 has a slot 26 in line with the hollow interior of pintle I3. A cover 21, welded to the outer face of retainer 23, covers slot 26. Retainers I1 and 23 are similar in structure but when door 9 is closed, the retainers, are angularly disposed relative to each other ninety degrees.

, When the door 9 is in horizontal position, closing the opening 5, slots 25 and 2B and tongue 24 are vertically disposed, a is clearly shown in Fig. 4. g

A flat torsion plate spring 28, formed of a plurality of superposed plates, is disposed in the hollow interior of the pintle I3, and its ends extend beyond the pintle into the slots 2| and 26. When the door is in horizontal position, the spring 28 is twisted, as shown in Fig. 4, from end to end ninety degrees, one end being fixedly secured against rotation in the slot 2|, and the other end being secured in slot 26 and adapted to rotate with the lug I l of the door.

, From the above it will be seen that when door 9 is in horizontal position closing opening 5, spring 28 is under torsion. Upon opening the door by raising it to a vertical position, the spring will be untwisted. Consequently, it is the closing of the door which results in the twisting of the spring 28, spring 28 thereby resisting such closing, and, on the other hand, exerting a force tending to may be predetermined by the number and strength of the plates employed in the spring.

Door 9 further includes a handle 29 secured to its outer face; two periscope connections 30, and a latch member 3| secured to its inner face and adapted to coact with a latch member 32 pivotally secured to the inner face of ring 4 and operable by a handle 33. While there has been hereinbefore described an approved embodiment of this invention, it will be understood that many and various changes and modifications in form, arrangement of parts and details of construction thereof may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that all such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claim are contemplated as a part of this invention.

The invention claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A device for hingedly connecting a closure to a fixed support comprising a ring adapted to be secured at its margin to said fixed support; two spaced hinges, each hinge including a pair of hinge lugs, a lug of each hinge being adapted to be rigidly connected to said closure and the other lug of each hinge being integral with said ring, said closure lugs at corresponding sides being disposed opposite corresponding sides of their correlated ring lugs, said lugs having axially aligned orifices; a hollow member spanning said hinges and having end portions extending into said orifices forming pintles for support of said closure lugs by said ring lugs and to permit said closure lugs to rotate relative to said ring lugs; and a torsion spring extending through said member and secured at its ends to the outer hinge lugs, said ring having a portion abutting one of said closure lugs on the side thereof remote from its said correlated ring lug, thereby holding the lugs of each of said hinges together.

ARTHUR c. BUNKER. 

